The Story of Cain and Abel

Genesis 4:1-15

On a spring afternoon, Beth (who had been playing in the back yard with her brother Bobby) came into her house crying and -- after closing the door behind her, putting her jacket away, and washing her hands -- ran to her mother for comfort.
"Mother," she sobbed, "I wanted to play with Father but he told me that he'd rather play with Bobby instead! Father likes Bobby better than me! He's mean!"
"Now, now, Dear One," her mother said, wiping the tears from Beth's eyes with the corner of her apron, "it's not like that at all. Come into the kitchen with me and I will tell you a story so that you will understand." And this is the story she told:

One day, Adam put his penis in Eve and made a baby grow in her tummy. After Eve gave birth to a baby boy named Cain, she said, "God put that baby in my tummy." Then another baby started to grow in Eve's tummy, and it turned out to be Cain's brother, Abel. When Cain grew up he was a farmer, and when Abel grew up he was a shepherd.
One day, Cain got a bunch of fruit that grew out of the ground and set it on fire because he thought that it would make God happy. At the same time, Abel set a baby sheep on fire for God.
Now, as it turns out, God liked the burned-up sheep more than he liked the burned-up fruit. This made Cain really depressed.
When God saw how cranky Cain was, God said, "What's the matter, Cain? Why do you look so depressed? If you had done something good you'd be happy, but you didn't. Now get control of yourself!"
A little while later, Cain was talking to Abel in a field, and Cain jumped up and killed Abel.
Then God talked to Cain and said, "Where's your brother Abel?"
Cain answered, "How would I know? Am I my brother's baby-sitter?"
And God said, "Cain, what did you do? I can hear Abel's blood yelling that he was killed. Now the ground will treat you bad, and when you try to plant seeds, it will be as hard as a rock. From now on you will be homeless."

"Wow," Beth said, a little calmer now, "Cain was pretty bad. I bet he got the death penalty for killing his brother."
"Not at all," said Beth's mother. "Listen while I tell you the rest of the story."

This made Cain pretty upset. "That's a nasty punishment!" he said. "I can't take it. You have thrown me off the face of the earth, and won't look at me any more. I will be homeless, and every time that I meet someone, he will kill me."
"Oh no," said God. "If anyone kills you, then I will kill him seven times." And God put a mark on Cain so that everyone would know that this was the case.
God decided that no crime was so great that a man should die for it, although he changed his mind about that later.

"I see," said Beth. "God likes shepherds better than he likes farmers and sometimes he plays favorites."
"That's very good," said her mother. "And if God can play favorites with his children, then surely there is nothing wrong with your father doing the same."
Then Beth smiled and hugged her mother. All her questions had been answered.